It's My Life
by Team Dragon Star
Summary: Gohan reflects on the events of his life leading up to his experiences with Videl


**Disclaimer: Team Dragon Star does not own Dragonball Z**

 **This chapter was brought to you by our new member, Gohan SSJ2 Mystic!**

* * *

I would never wish my life on anyone, not ever. My life isn't exactly what they would consider enjoyable, always living battle to battle, then returning home to shove my nose in book after book. And the cycle always goes on. .

I never thought I would reflect on my life so early. Most people reflect on things when they hit 50 or more but in my case, I'm only approaching 20 years old. Me and Videl have just gotten married and we have a baby on the way. It's amazing how quickly time flies. And the events that led up to this are shocking.

It all started with my father. He was so young when he started fighting the Red Ribbon Army but he defeated them all by himself. He made many powerful friends but also made a lot of enemies, including Dr Gero, who was the mastermind behind them. In secret, Dr Gero went on to create some of the most diabolical and lethal killing machines of the era, pushing my dad to new levels of power. He competed in many tournaments, even fighting the Demon King Piccolo and coming out as the winner. Eventually Piccolo came to be on our side, but that wasn't until I was in the picture.

My parents were married shortly after my dad won the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai Tournament and I was born within a year after. We were all happy and content until the day Raditz showed up. I wasn't even 5 years old when he arrived, but that was the day my childhood basically ended. My dad and Piccolo teamed up to beat Raditz, resulting in my father's death and Piccolo kidnapping me to teach me how to fight. My mother had a fit when she was told and went into a slight depression wondering if I would be safe and if I would ever return home to her.

One year later, Vegeta and Nappa arrived on Earth, having heard about the Dragonballs through Raditz's scouter the year prior. My dad had been trained in Otherworld by King Kai during that whole time and was ready to be wished back to life. The fight started without him, resulting in the deaths of Piccolo, Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaotzu. That left me and Krillin as the survivors when dad finally arrived on the scene. Nappa was eliminated by Vegeta because he wasn't finishing the job quickly enough and Vegeta was dispatched soon after by my dad with a little help from me and Yajirobe of all people.

The return home after the battle was definitely not what we expected. Mom was so excited that both of us were home, she picked up on daily routines as though we had never left. It felt weird at the time, still seems weird even now. Her attitude about the whole thing just seemed too laid back, like she wasn't sure how to react to our sudden reappearance.

Within a few days of our return home, we were heading off-planet to a place called Namek. We had to go there to make use of their Dragonballs to revive Piccolo and the others. During our time there, we encountered Freeza, a tyrant like no other, and his minions Zarbon and Dodoria. We even ran into Vegeta again and he was not too pleased about seeing us there.

My dad couldn't join us on the initial trip to Namek due to his injuries from the battle with Vegeta and so had to join us soon after. During our wait on Namek, we had to try to avoid detection but with little luck, encountering the Ginyu Force and Freeza. Fighting to stay alive was all we could do. Upon my dad's arrival, we had some hope once again on our side. I had been incapacitated and Vegeta was injured. Even Krillin was in bad shape. My dad was able to dispatch the member of the Ginyu Force with ease at first until Captain Ginyu himself intervened, swapping bodies with my dad and causing a bunch of chaos. By the end of it all, all who had been body swapped were back to normal except Ginyu who was now trapped in the body of a frog.

The arrival of Freeza on the scene changed everything. While dad was in healing, we had to battle Freeza on our own, fighting to stay alive until my dad could help us with the battle. Vegeta was close to death when dad arrived, confessing to him in his last moments on why he was the way he was and who had really destroyed the Saiyan homeworld. The battle and the events that played out from there caused my dad to reach the legendary transformation known as Super Saiyan. Those of us not involved in the battle were soon teleported by a wish off the planet and back to Earth while Dad finished business with Freeza, resulting in the final destruction of Namek.

We used the Namekian Dragonballs many times over the course of that next year, wishing people back to life who still had yet to be revived and trying to bring my dad back as well. We were told he was alive and was refusing to come back at that time and would return later. We were shocked but not totally taken off guard by it. Dad always loved the battles and any chance he had to be stronger, he took it. We weren't sure what to think at that point, but we suspected it had something to do with training.

Vegeta had joined us on Earth at that point as well and moved in with Bulma, much to the displeasure of Yamcha. It seemed that even with all we had been through, Bulma had actually taken a liking to the temperamental and fiery Prince of all Saiyans. Her relationship with Yamcha was rocky at best and they were constantly fighting so overall, it was likely for the best that she wound up with Vegeta instead.

Shortly after Frieza's defeat, Garlic Jr showed up and it was my turn to show what I was capable of. We had been told I had untapped potential and my power was able to keep me from being sucked into the Dead Zone like so many others had. I used my own power to destroy the Makyo Star thus limiting how much power Garlic Jr had to use. The destruction of that star gave us the chance we needed to win but the damage done around the world had been intense. With the help of Kami and the Sacred Water, the people of Earth were restored to the way they used to be.

It was within a year that Dad came home following the battle with Garlic Jr. A young man with purple hair showed up out of nowhere, shortly after the arrival of Freeza and his father King Cold. We all had assumed Freeza was dead, having been defeated by my father the year prior, but we were all wrong. Frieza came to Earth, seeking to destroy the planet and everyone my father loved in revenge for what he had done. The purple-haired young man transformed during his encounter with Freeza, changing into a Super Saiyan before our very eyes and using a sword he carried to take out Freeza with relative ease. He even took out King Cold and the ship load of troops that had joined them without even breaking a sweat.

We weren't sure what to make of the kid at the time, even Vegeta had a fit saying there was no way that the boy had Saiyan blood. When Dad arrived soon after, the mysterious young man and my dad both transformed and duked it out for a few moments before he revealed to my dad who he was and gave us the warning about the Androids to appear in 3 years time. He even warned my dad about a heart virus he would contract before the battle and gave him an antidote made many years in the future for it.

During those next 3 years, Mom reluctantly let me train but she kept pushing the books on me whenever I wasn't. She knew we had to be ready for the upcoming battle, but it didn't make her any less paranoid about a recurrence of previous events. She wanted me to constantly study, claiming she didn't want me to be uneducated like my father was. It was sad really, because of his lack of schooling, no normal job would hire him. He had to do odd and end type jobs to be able to have any kind of income. For those 3 years, we all did what we had to do, enjoying a brief time of peace and quiet.

The day finally came when we had to go battle. My mother wasn't happy about me joining them for the fight, but considering I knew how to fly and she couldn't, I was able to make a quick escape. The androids we first came upon were Android 19 and Android 20, one of which being Dr Gero's brain suspended in a mechanical body. During the battle with Android 19, my dad took on the symptoms of the heart virus, losing strength rapidly because of its quick progression. Vegeta's arrival to the battlefield plus his ascension to Super Saiyan status changed the course of the fight, leading to a brief victory. The mechanized Dr Gero escaped and ran to his hidden lab deep in the mountains. From there he awakened the androids Mirai Trunks had warned us of, Android 17 and Android 18. A third unknown android, Android 16, was also awakened following the rebellion of Android 17 against Gero and the subsequent death of their creator.

Android 16, having been programmed to only kill my father, seemed to have a softer side we later noticed, an affection for the birds of the world. His one track mind about hunting down my father however led to his eventual downfall at the hands of Cell, Dr Gero's ultimate creation. He was so intent on killing my father due to his programming, that anything that wasn't my father wasn't immediately recognized as a threat, causing him to not be constantly on guard when needed.

The time eventually came around for the Cell Games, causing me, my dad, Vegeta, and Mirai Trunks all to make use of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber up on Kami's Lookout. One day outside equaled one year inside. During my time inside the Chamber, I managed to unlock Super Saiyan level and even level two as well. Level two Super Saiyan came as a shock to my dad. He knew I had hidden potential but seeing hints of it with his own eyes made him question who would truly be the winner of the Cell Games. When we finally arrived at the tournament stage for the Cell Games, we all tried to be hopeful of a good outcome.

Hercule Satan and a couple of his students joined the tournament as well, opting to go first and claiming that Cell was a trickster and that everything he did was via smoke and mirrors. They were the first to fall, luckily not being killed as that was against the tournament rules. When it came time for my dad to fight, he did so eagerly, wanting to test out his new power gained during training. The only one truly able to follow his movements was me, having gained slightly more power than even my dad did.

As the battle continued, many sacrifices were made, including Android 16 who put himself in the line of fire to push me over the edge and get me to unleash my true power. Even my dad made the ultimate sacrifice that day, dying to ensure the rest of us lived, but without success. He died that day leaving me with regret that I didn't finish off Cell when I could, making me feel responsible for his death. Even after Cell's defeat that day, it was hard to say goodbye to dad, hoping and praying that someday he would return to us again.

Another tournament came up within a short time after the Cell Games, introducing us to Bojack and his goons. Without dad here to help us physically, it came down to me having to step up and defeat this new threat. In spirit, he intervened, giving me the push I needed once again to go Super Saiyan Two and defeat Bojack.

It finally came time for our season of peace, a span of seven years, in which I was able to go to high school for the first time. It was then I met Videl, the daughter of Hercule Satan. She was pushy, obstinate, and didn't like it when other people hid secrets from her. Everyone had secrets, so why she was so insistent on finding out mine was beyond me. Even when I took on the superhero persona of The Great Saiyaman, she was just as pushy to know everything about him as she was with me, not knowing till later that he and I was the same person.

Our relationship started out quite rocky, her pushing me for answers, me trying to evade them because I didn't want to shatter her perception of the truth, and the media always following her around. With her father being Hercule Satan, the media was always hounding him and her, no matter what they did in their lives. Hercule welcomed the attention, even having gone so far as to steal the credit for the defeat of Cell seven years prior. Videl lived in his shadow, as much as she hated to do so. The day she literally learned how to fly, she finally found her freedom. We started telling each other everything, eventually leading up to me telling her that her dad didn't defeat Cell, that I did.

The next big fight began just as our relationship was gaining ground, a villain named Majin Buu, awakened by the wizard Babidi. The Earth's inhabitants all died during that fight with the exception of a few of us. Even I died in that fight before Buu was finally defeated. Being reunited with Videl and my family after everyone was brought back was a relief in itself. Hercule approved of our relationship after the Buu fiasco was over, allowing me and Videl a chance to be together. We eventually married and now have a child on the way.

I had to grow up long ago, distancing myself from the things that normal kids were accustomed to. I had become the strongest person on the planet before I was even 18 years old, and had become the 3rd smartest person in the world below Dr Briefs and Bulma. Now, I'll be able to experience fatherhood as well. Any child of mine will have more of a childhood than I did, of that I can be certain.

Looking up from my past reflections, I see what lies before me now. My wife, my child, my job as the lead developer of Capsule Corporation and in medical school on top of it to become a doctor. I have so much to live for, so much to protect, and I wouldn't wish this life I lived on anyone. They deserve to have a normal life, a childhood free of responsibilities. I envy them, but of course, I would never openly say it. Who would believe that I had done all that in my short life so far? Nobody would. Only those close to me know the truth and that's how it shall remain. Nobody needs to know anything. I'll just be their protector in the shadows, leading the life nobody else ever should.

* * *

For those who are interested, we are a group of collaborative writers who combine our efforts to bring you stories such as this one. We're an open group, meaning that anyone can apply to join. Feel free to check out our forums, our Facebook page, and perhaps apply to join the group, via the link on our profile. It's a great opportunity for those who would like to better their own writing abilities and exchange skills of the trade with fellow authors, or to simply be more a part of a writing community.

Hope you enjoyed and please leave a review.


End file.
